Asbestos-related cancer sufferers are to receive up to £54,000 extra under new compensation rules brought in by government

The government has announced that asbestos-related cancer suffers are to receive up to £54,000 extra in compensation.

Under new rules for the government’s Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme, compensation will rise to match 100 per cent of average civil claims, up from the current 80 per cent, which could mean an increase of up to £54,000 a person, according to Ministers.

The change has been welcomed by Chris, who has dedicated her life to campaigning to help those affected by the deadly condition since her husband Mick died from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma in 2001.

The Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund, based in Wallsend, North Tyneside, has raised more than £1m for research and supported hundreds of people.

Chris, 68, said: “I feel very pleased. It has been a long haul for this to come about and it does give people the opportunity for compensation that would otherwise not have had.

“There is still a long way to go and sadly this decision should have been taken a long time ago as those with mesothelioma don’t have the luxury of time.

“Those with the condition want to know that their family will be financially provided for when they are no longer here and this is why the new rules are so important.”

Chris Knighton

Those diagnosed with asbestos-related mesothelioma from February 10 2015 will benefit from the payment increases.

Mesothelioma is a cancer affecting the lining of internal organs such as the lungs, which is usually connected to exposure to asbestos.

The North East is a blackspot for the disease, because asbestos was used in shipbuilding, construction and the automotive industry.

Ministers introduced legislation in 2013 to provide payments to those who cannot trace their former employer’s insurer.

But the compensation on offer was lower than the average compensation people would expect to receive by going through the courts – and MPs have been campaigning for the payments to be increased.

The Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme has already paid out over £19m in its first 10 months of operation.

Work and Pensions Minister, Lord Freud said: “For years, many victims of this truly terrible disease have been failed by successive governments and the insurance industry. With this scheme we are continuing to help the many victims and families that mesothelioma has left without financial support.

“From today we are raising compensation payments to 100% of average civil claims. It is partly thanks to the success of the insurance industry in tracing liable insurers and employers that we are able to make these changes as part of our on-going commitment to support mesothelioma sufferers.

“Though the majority of suffers are able to claim compensation through the liability insurance held by their employer, a significant minority cannot.

“Due to the length of time between asbestos exposure and cancer diagnosis, many employers and their insurers no longer exist and so the liable successor organisations are often untraceable.”

Blaydon MP Dave Anderson

Blaydon MP Dave Anderson said: “I’m delighted to hear this news, this is what campaigners have asked for many years.

“At last people who were denied justice by dilatory ex-employers and their friends in the insurance industry will be properly compensated, it’s long overdue but welcome.”

Around 2,100 people in the UK are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. It is almost always fatal with most of those affected usually dying within twelve months of diagnosis.

A ‘standardised mortality ratio’ (SMR) is used to identify blackspots, where a figure of 100 would be the expected number of deaths, given the age of the population.

But in North Tyneside the figure is much higher, at 309, and in South Tyneside it is 303, reflecting the high incidence of mesothelioma in those local authority areas.

Across the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan County the figure is 235 and in the North East it is 170.

Ministers said the number of people claiming compensation under the scheme had been higher than expected.

Mesothelioma is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos, a soft material that used to be widely used in building construction as a form of insulation and to protect against fire.

Federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint against New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, detailing long-rumored allegations about how a prominent asbestos law firm steered millions of dollars to the powerful politician in exchange for client referrals from a doctor, who in turn is accused of accepting favors from Silver.

The 35-page complaint by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York accuses Silver of accepting more than $5.3 million in payments from Weitz & Luxenberg, a New York law firm that specializes in asbestos lawsuits. Silver is also accused of obtaining the money in exchange for client referrals from an unnamed doctor in Manhattan who is cooperating with prosecutors under non-prosecution agreement. The doctor is accused of receiving substantial benefits from the Speaker, including $500,000 in grants for his mesothelioma research clinic and a job for a family member at a state-funded non-profit.

The complaint accuses Silver of using his office to obtain “referral fees” in exchange for little or no actual legal work, and failing to report some of them on his personal finance statements. He obtained more than $500,000 in fees from another law firm specializing in real estate appraisal appeals, prosecutors said. No one in Silver’s office was immediately available for comment.

It has long been known that Silver earned hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from Weitz & Luxenberg, but under New York’s lax reporting rules he wasn’t required to say exactly how much or what he did for the money. Today’s complaint provides more detail, showing how the extraordinarily lucrative business of suing over asbestos generates enough fee income to finance “research grants” to doctors who refer clients back to them.

Citing records pulled by the state’s short-lived Moreland Commission as well a a federal investigation, prosecutors say Silver parlayed his relationship with the physician identified as “Doctor-1″ to funnel clients to Weitz & Luxenberg in exchange for 33% of the firm’s take on any case. The doctor is further identified as running a mesothelioma research center at a major university, and having received a commendation from the Assembly in May, 2011.

According to the complaint, Silver met Doctor-1 through a mutual friend. The doctor had never referred patients to Weitz & Luxenberg because they didn’t fund mesothelioma research, the complaint says. Soon after learning that Silver had joined the firm in 2002, the doctor asked him if Weitz & Luxenberg would start funding research.

Silver told him he should start referring his patients to the firm, prosecutors say, and that state funds were available for his research. (New York allocated $8.5 million a year to a discretionary fund, controlled by Silver, for healthcare grants, until that fund was discontinued in 2007.) Seven weeks after the doctor made his first referral to Weitz & Luxenberg, records show, he made a $250,000 grant request to the state. The letter was addressed to Silver. On July 5, 2005, Silver directed a $250,000 grant to the doctor’s mesothelioma center. The letter said the money would be for mesothelioma research including on the effects of the Sept. 11 catastrophe in Silver’s district, but didn’t mention the client referrals Silver was getting.

The report provides an in-depth analysis of the EU Market of Asbestos. It presents the latest data of the market size and volume, domestic production, exports and imports, price dynamics and turnover in the industry. The report shows the sales data, allowing you to identify the key drivers and restraints. You can find here a strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market. Forecasts illustrate how the market will be transformed in the medium term. Profiles of the leading companies and brands are also included.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and long-term debt ratings for Tyco International Ltd. (Tyco; NYSE: TYC) and Tyco International Finance S.A. (TIFSA) at ‘A-‘. The Rating Outlook is Stable. A full list of ratings follows at the end of this release.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Earlier today, Tyco announced non-cash asbestos charges totaling $465 million, net of certain adjustments, together with plans to make cash payments of $600 million during 2015 to fund the company’s asbestos liabilities. The amounts are substantially higher than Tyco’s previous estimates, but Fitch believes the company has sufficient liquidity and free cash flow (FCF) to make payments to a bankruptcy trust and a qualified settlement fund over the next 12 months without a material increase in debt. Fitch estimates cash balances would decline significantly by the end of 2015, possibly to less than $500 million, compared to $1.9 billion at June 27, 2014, but the reduced cash level should be sufficient to fund operations.

More than 90% of Tyco’s asbestos cases involve the company’s Yarway Corporation and Grinnell LLC subsidiaries. The new asbestos charges recognize a recent agreement in principal with Yarway’s claimants and a revised estimate of asbestos liabilities at Grinnell and other non-Yarway businesses. Tyco plans to fund future payments for Yarway’s asbestos liabilities by contributing $325 million to a section 524(g) trust, including approximately $100 million of an intercompany amount claimed by Yarway. The agreement in principal pertaining to Yarway is subject to various approvals and would expire if not finalized by certain dates in 2015 or 2016. Tyco also expects to fund future payments related to non-Yarway asbestos liabilities by contributing approximately $275 million to a qualified settlement fund in coordination with insurers.

There is a risk that the revised estimate of Tyco’s asbestos liability is low and that Tyco will be required to make additional claim payments in addition to its planned contribution of $600 million. This concern is mitigated by the extended period over which future additional payments might be required, and by Tyco’s financial flexibility to reduce future spending for share repurchases or acquisitions.

Cash totaled $1.9 billion at the end of the third fiscal quarter, excluding $277 million of time deposits, which reflected proceeds from the recent divestitures of ADT Korea for approximately $1.9 billion and the remaining share of Atkore for $250 million. Much of the cash is being deployed for share repurchases. The divestitures enhanced Tyco’s focus on the commercial fire and security markets. Pro forma earnings and cash flow will be slightly lower as a result of the divestitures. However, ongoing improvements in operating results at the company’s core businesses, and a gradual return to higher FCF anticipated after 2014, should mitigate the negative impact of the divestitures on credit metrics.

In addition to cash, Tyco’s liquidity at June 27, 2014 included a $1 billion bank credit facility that matures in 2017. The bank facility backs commercial paper issued under a $1 billion program. There are no material debt maturities scheduled until October 2015 when a $258 million note is due. Debt totaled nearly $1.5 billion at June 27, 2014. Tyco also has substantial leases which Fitch considers in adjusted debt leverage metrics.

Rating concerns include potential tax liabilities related to Tyco’s separation transactions in 2012 and 2007. The IRS asserts the company owes income taxes of approximately $1 billion for the 1997 – 2000 tax years. The amount includes penalties but not interest which could be substantial. The IRS claim relates to intercompany debt on which the IRS has disallowed $2.86 billion of interest and related deductions. If its claim is upheld, the IRS could potentially demand additional income tax payments for similar deductions totaling $6.6 billion in subsequent periods.

A resolution of the tax dispute could take several years, which would defer the cash impact. Any payments that might eventually be required would be shared with the other companies involved in both of Tyco’s separations in 2012 and 2007. While not expected, an inability of the other companies to share in any future payments would increase Tyco’s liability. If the IRS makes claims on all $9.5 billion of deductions and ultimately prevails, Fitch estimates Tyco’s share of the income tax liabilities could total approximately $600 million, plus interest. An adverse outcome involving a large payment is currently beyond the rating horizon but could potentially lead to a negative rating action.

Fitch estimates FCF after dividends in 2014 at approximately $100 million or more, compared to FCF of $291 million in 2013. FCF continues to be reduced in the near term by cash payments for special charges. As Tyco funds these items, FCF could gradually return toward a normalized annual level of at least $500 million over the next two years or so, depending on the timing of cash charges. FCF would also benefit from an increase in operating margins related to restructuring and as non-residential construction markets improve. Concerns about low FCF are mitigated by Tyco’s conservative debt structure.

The cash impact of special charges increased to $392 million in the first nine months and include restructuring, environmental payments, and tax-related payments under Tyco’s separation agreements. Cash charges will likely continue through at least 2015, but at declining levels.

Cash deployment in the near term is concentrated on share repurchases. Tyco expected to repurchase approximately 30 million shares in the second half of 2014 which could result in total repurchases of around $1.5 billion or more for the full year. Additional repurchases could occur in 2015. In addition to share repurchases, Tyco has completed or announced more than $100 million of acquisitions in 2014 compared to more than $250 million in 2013. Acquisitions are a key part of Tyco’s strategy to expand its presence globally and in higher-growth emerging regions.

At the end of fiscal 2013, pension plans were underfunded by $348 million (U.S. $140 million; foreign $208 million). Tyco estimates it will contribute at least the required $53 million to its pension plans in 2014; contributions to global plans totaled $37 million through the first nine months. U.S. plans were 82% funded, up from 67% in 2012. More than half (63%) of Tyco’s gross pension obligations are outside the U.S.

Rating strengths include Tyco’s geographic diversification, well-established positions in its fire and security markets, improving operating profile, and financial flexibility. Total adjusted debt/EBITDAR at June 27, 2014 was 2.0x, roughly flat compared to the end of fiscal 2013, and within the range expected by Fitch.

Tyco continues to integrate and streamline operations to support higher margins. Margins are also supported by Tyco’s increased selectivity around projects in the security business. This strategy initially had a negative impact on volumes, but the company could see a higher mix of recurring revenue over time. Fitch estimates approximately 25% of revenue comes from recurring services which are relatively stable and help to offset cyclicality in the installation business.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Future developments that may, individually or collectively, lead to a negative rating action include:

–FCF remains weak longer than expected due to operating results or high cash charges. The recently announced charges for asbestos liabilities reflected a material increase, but Fitch believes the impact of cash funding during fiscal 2015 will be manageable. Fitch expects FCF, excluding asbestos funding, will increase to approximately $300 million-$400 million in 2015, depending on the timing of other cash charges, and FCF/total adjusted debt will improve above 10% over the long term;

–High spending for share repurchases or acquisitions leads to a sustained increase in leverage, including total adjusted debt/EBITDAR above 2.5x;

–Liquidity is impaired by an adverse tax decision.

Future developments that may, individually or collectively, lead to a positive rating action include:

ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY’S PUBLIC WEBSITE ‘WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM‘. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH’S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE ‘CODE OF CONDUCT’ SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE.

The federal agency in charge of protecting human health and the environment caused a threat in both of those areas while experimenting with a relatively new method for asbestos control, according to a watchdog report released Thursday.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general said the EPA overlooked violations of environmental law and disregarded research guidance while studying an alternative approach to demolishing asbestos-containing buildings.

“This resulted in wasted resources and the potential exposure of workers and the public to unsafe levels of asbestos,” the report said.

Auditors found that the research also lacked proper oversight or even an agreed-to goal. The project cost about $3.5 million for contracting, staff time and other expenses between 2004 and 2012.

“The high-dollar cost, potential public health risks, and failure of the [alternative method] to provide reliable data and results are management-control problems that need to be addressed,” the report said.

Asbestos is a human carcinogen. Exposure to the fibers, which were once commonly used for insulation, can cause deadly health problems such as lung cancer and mesothelioma.

EPA standards require trained technicians to remove asbestos from buildings before demolition in order to prevent the fibers from entering the air. But the agency wanted to test an alternative method: Wetting materials before and during the wrecking-and-removal process. The technique is already allowed for buildings that are on the verge of collapse.

The EPA research came as part of an nearly 20-year old initiative to find innovative and better approaches for protecting the environment and public health. In this case, the project backfired.

Auditors said the EPA “did not adequately address health and environmental issues,” adding that “key decisions on health and safety issues … were allowed to go unresolved.” The agency used its enforcement discretion to ignore violations of environmental law to support the experiment, according to the report.

The inspector general recommended that the EPA require its research to follow controlled processes. The agency agreed with the proposals and has already completed many of them.

“We continually are improving our research protocols and processes to achieve the highest possible scientific standards to protect the American public and our environment,” EPA press secretary Liz Purchia said in a statement. “We have made significant changes to our research planning process to require that all research includes oversight procedures and input from senior managers.”

The EPA has not approved the alternative asbestos-control method, and the agency will not use it as part of its standards for emissions and air pollutants, Purchia said.

Josh Hicks covers the federal government and anchors the Federal Eye blog. He reported for newspapers in the Detroit and Seattle suburbs before joining the Post as a contributor to Glenn Kessler’s Fact Checker blog in 2011.

Its letter to the EPA this week said that while concentrations of asbestos in the air “do not appear to be high enough to harm the health of people who breathe this air for relatively short periods of time . . . uncertainties described above make it difficult to say there is no long-term risk from exposures to low levels of asbestos that might remain in the building.”

The EPA issued a rare stop-work order on renovations at the apartment complex this month after inspectors discovered asbestos in the floors, doors and windows and found that work crews were not taking legally required precautions. The renovations have been going on since last summer, when a new owner bought the buildings from the Virginia Department of Transportation and began upgrading windows, floors, pipes and other basic infrastructure.

After multiple unresolved complaints from residents to the landlord, the city and the state, a resident called the EPA, which sent in teams of investigators. Renovations are still on hold.

The EPA plans to meet Monday with residents to discuss the results of the sampling and explain its next steps.

Stefanie Ackerman, a Hunting Point resident who has a 3-month-old child, said she feels better after reading the toxic-substances agency’s letter but has “mixed feelings” about the safety of the apartments. Ackerman, a George Washington University law student, is also exploring whether she and her fellow tenants should sue over the asbestos exposure.

The situation should make tenants wary, said Mary Hesdorffer, a nurse practitioner and executive director of the Alexandria-based nonprofit Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. Mesothelioma is a form of cancer, most often caused by asbestos, that affects the smooth lining of the chest, lungs, heart and abdomen.

“The real crux of this is there was exposure to asbestos dust, and nobody has been able to settle how much [exposure] is too much,” Hesdorffer said after reviewing the letter. “There may be people who are more sensitive than others. We’re seeing younger and younger children with mesothelioma. . . . There is just no safe level.”

Hesdorffer advised Hunting Point residents to make sure that their medical records reflect that they’ve been exposed to asbestos, whether they fall ill in the near future or not. She added, “If anyone has cancer in the family . . . [they] may want to take even more precautions.”

“ADAO was thrilled to deliver the keynote address at this important OCRC symposium,” stated Reinstein. “The World Health Organization reports, ‘Lung cancer, mesothelioma, and bladder cancer are among the most common types of occupational cancers.’ Raising further awareness about this critical issue is top of mind for us in our educational efforts.”

Reinstein’s presentation, “Lung Cancer Research: Beyond the Bench in the 21st Century,” explored how to turn research into action, and reaffirmed that prevention remains the only cure. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports, “Globally, 19% of all cancers are attributable to the environment, including work setting resulting in 1.3 million deaths each year.”

“The OCRC brought together provincial, national and international researchers and public health advocates to focus on occupational lung cancer because recent studies have highlighted that a significant percentage of lung cancers can be attributed to occupational exposures including asbestos, diesel, silica and radon,” stated Paul Demers, Ph.D., M.Sc., Director of the Occupational Cancer Research Centre. “Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer, yet receives less than 10% of cancer research funding. The urgent need to identify lung cancer due to occupational exposures is why today’s symposium has focused on the logistical, ethical and financial issues related to screening for occupational lung cancer.”

OCRC, established in 2009, is the first of its kind in Canada. The Centre was established to fill the gaps in our knowledge of occupation-related cancers and to translate these findings into preventive programs to control workplace carcinogenic exposures and improve the health of workers. For more information about the symposium and the Occupational Cancer Research Centre, please visit OccupationalCancer.ca.

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) was founded by asbestos victims and their families in 2004. ADAO is the largest non-profit in the U.S. dedicated to providing asbestos victims and concerned citizens with a united voice through our education, advocacy, and community initiatives. ADAO seeks to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure, advocate for an asbestos ban, and protect asbestos victims’ civil rights. For more information, visit www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org.

The discovery of asbestos-like fibers at the proposed Gogebic Taconite mine site could add to the cost of the operation, but the amount of added expense won’t be known for many months.

If the substance is widespread, it’s possible that controlling it during mining and rock-crushing could drive expenses so high that the mine would not be built, but there’s no indication that will be the case, said company spokesman Bob Seitz.

“I guess that would be possible,” Seitz said. “Is it affecting the decisions we’re making about doing the testing and moving forward? No. There’s nothing right now to show it will be too expensive.”

State Department of Natural Resources officials agree that it’s too early to know how much of the cancer-causing material lies in the rock of the Penokee Hills in northern Wisconsin where the company wants to dig for iron.

It’s not clear if the test drilling already done in eight spots and five more that are planned will be sufficient to determine the extent of any hazardous fibrous material with characteristics of asbestos, but Gogebic Taconite almost certainly will be able to engineer solutions to any problem — possibly simply using water to keep dust down — just like mine companies have done in other states, Seitz said.

Six active iron mines currently being studied in Minnesota appear to meet federal standards — with some exceptions — for protecting workers from tiny airborne fibers that break loose from rock, but the workers had higher-than-expected rates of mesothelioma, the uncurable lung cancer caused by asbestos, according to a five-year University of Minnesota study.

The next stage of the study will determine if the toxic particles caused the disease, or if some outside factor such as exposure to commercial asbestos contributed, said Jeffrey Mandel, a University of Minnesota School of Public Health professor and principal investigator for the research effort.

The iron mines keep most workers in enclosed cabs of heavy equipment outfitted with high-efficiency air filtration systems, said Peter Raynor, who led a study of workplace pollution controls.

“In most of these operations, the crushers are enclosed and they have belts that carry the ore that are also enclosed,” Raynor said. “You can still get dust emerging from that if you don’t pull enough air through the enclosure.”

The study found instances of inadequate air flows, but workers doing maintenance or other special jobs were most likely to appear to be exposed, Raynor said.

“You would see miners who would show evidence of contamination on their clothing, or the skin on their face,” Raynor said.

Scientists also monitored air in five mining communities, and collected very few fibrous particles in three places and none in the others, said Larry Zanko, a senior research fellow at the university’s Center for Applied Research and Technology Development in Duluth.

Gogebic Taconite will need to control dust of all kinds, and if the cancer-causing fibers are present, extra air monitoring may be required, said Larry Lynch, a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources hydrologist who is coordinating the agency’s response as the company seeks permits to conduct bulk sampling, and eventually to mine.

The company insisted in a July 28 letter to the DNR that it didn’t expect to find toxic fibers because the type likely to occur in Wisconsin — in a certain form of a mineral called grunerite — had only been found in one portion of the Mesabi Iron Range in Minnesota.

The letter also asserted that the DNR couldn’t regulate asbestos emissions, but last week company spokesman Bob Seitz acknowledged that the independent laboratories that analyze core samples from the site will look microscopically for toxic fibers under a provision of the state mining law.

The DNR disclosed on Oct. 8 that a rock containing such fibers was found at the mine site in May.

Seitz has questioned the finding, saying that it was possible someone tampered with the sample, although he acknowledged he had no evidence. Mine opponents said the DNR’s confirmation that the material is present should spark tougher scrutiny of laboratory tests that are being conducted on core samples the company collected from the mine site.

“There’s a lot of money at risk for (the company) based on the testing for this material,” said Dave Blouin, who works on mining issues for the Sierra Club in Wisconsin.

Mike Wiggins Jr., chairman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, whose reservation is downstream of the mine site, said local geologists have observed additional quantities of fibrous minerals. The tribe is also concerned about sulphide in waste rock releasing sulfuric acid into streams.

“They are going to keep the asbestos wet and the sulfide mineral dry?” Wiggins said. “This is a sham. Nobody’s drinking the Kool-Aid up here.”

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration sets exposure limits for toxic fibers that can break away from certain minerals, including grunerite, which has been documented by the U.S. Geologic Survey in large quantities near the western end of the mine site.

Not all grunerite is of the dangerous “asbestiform” type, but that form of the mineral was documented as early as the 1920s near the Tyler Forks River not far from the east edge of the mine site, Lynch said.

An in-depth USGS survey described fibrous bundles and “needles” that match the description of the asbestiform type of grunerite, Lynch said.

A more recent USGS publication noted that grunerite “is abundant in the iron-formation at Penokee Gap near Mellen” near the west side of the mine site.

Some activists have expressed concern that blasting would spread the toxic particles, but Lynch said that properly executed explosions break the rock without spewing large plumes into the air.

Typically, a blasting site can be wetted down on the surface and containers of additional water are dropped into holes drilled into the rock before each explosion, Lynch said.

The report provides a complete overview of the asbestos-cement and
cellulose fibre-cement articles market in EU countries in a
comprehensive and easily accessed format. Market current state,
historical figures and future development are in the report.

Scope

The report gives in-depth analysis of the European Union market for
asbestos-cement and cellulose fibre-cement articles with data for EU
in total and by country

Current statistics, historical background and forecast are included

Data on production, consumption, prices, and trade statistics are
among key points considered in the study

The report presents profiles of leading EU manufacturers and major
suppliers

Consumers of asbestos-cement and cellulose fibre-cement articles in EU
market are listed

Asbestos-cement and cellulose fibre-cement articles market prospects
are given (incl. trends in consumption, production and prices)

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